The activation of a time scanner draws the Doctor, Leela and K-9 to
modern-day Earth, where a team of scientists has uncovered an ancient
skull. The skull is that of the Fendahl, a creature which thrives on
death and which was thought to have been destroyed by the Time Lords.
One of the scientists, Thea Ransome, is converted into a host for the
Fendahl, and she creates minions -- the deadly Fendahleen -- to deliver
her lethal message across the planet.

Production

Ironically, the final Doctor Who story to be made under the aegis
of script editor Robert Holmes would also be the last, for all intents
and purposes, in the Gothic tradition he had established with former
producer Philip Hinchcliffe. This was Image Of The Fendahl, which
was commissioned from Chris Boucher on May 2nd, 1977. Boucher had
written two consecutive stories -- The Face Of
Evil and The Robots Of Death -- for
Season Fourteen and had greatly impressed Holmes. Indeed, at about the
same time, he recommended Boucher as script editor for the fledgling BBC
science-fiction series Blake's 7, a job that Holmes himself had
declined because he wanted to return to freelance writing full-time.

For Image Of The Fendahl, Boucher was influenced by the 1967 film
version of Quatermass And The Pit, most obviously with the
inclusion of a group of scientists who discover a skull which predates
humanity. Boucher also recalled a short story he had read about aliens
accelerating mankind's evolution for their own purposes. During the
making of The Invisible Enemy in April, the
principal Doctor Who cast had unexpectedly expanded by one member
when it was decided to keep K-9 on the programme. Since Boucher was
unfamiliar with the character, however, it was agreed that the robot dog
would appear only fleetingly in Image Of The Fendahl. K-9 would
be mute in these scenes, and so John Leeson (who provided his voice)
would not be required.

Since Chris Boucher was unfamiliar with K-9, it was agreed
that the robot dog would appear only fleetingly in his scripts

As development of his scripts proceeded during the summer, Boucher found
that his new job on Blake's 7 was consuming much of his time.
With Holmes leaving Doctor Who in July, this left incoming script
editor Anthony Read to perform many of the final rewrites. To this
point, Image Of The Fendahl had been planned as the fourth story
of the season, both in the recording and broadcast line-ups. With the
early part of the transmission schedule disrupted due to production
problems on Horror Of Fang Rock, however,
it was now decided that Image Of The Fendahl would become the
third serial to air, coming between The Invisible
Enemy and The Sun Makers, both of
which were set on human colonies. Nonetheless, it would remain the
fourth adventure to go before the cameras, and hence was designated
Serial 4X.

Because Boucher was still a relative newcomer to scriptwriting, he had
inadvertently included several night scenes in Image Of The
Fendahl, without realising the expense and production difficulties
these entailed. Instead of asking Boucher to revise his storyline,
Doctor Who producer Graham Williams instead decided to assign
Serial 4X to a veteran director with considerable experience in such
matters, to ensure that these sequences were completed as efficiently as
possible. This was George Spenton-Foster, who had been both a producer
and a director on shows like Out Of The Unknown and Thirty
Minute Theatre, and had also helmed episodes of Dr Finlay's
Casebook, Paul Temple and Survivors, amongst
others.

Unusually, it was decided that Louise Jameson should wear her hair up as
Leela in Image Of The Fendahl, because the BBC stylist had
accidentally cut it too short. This was not the only miscue to arise in
connection with Serial 4X. For years after the broadcast of Season
Fifteen, Doctor Who fandom was led to believe that a story called
“The Island Of Fandor” had been dropped from the schedule at
the last minute. In fact, Gordon Blows -- editor of TARDIS, the
leading fan publication at the time -- had simply misheard the title of
Image Of The Fendahl during a telephone conversation.

Location filming for Serial 4X saw Doctor Who return to Stargrove
Manor in East End, Hamphire, which had also been employed for Pyramids Of Mars two years earlier. Work there
spanned August 1st to 4th. Unfortunately, the shoot did not go entirely
smoothly, despite Spenton-Foster's experience: on the night of August
2nd, while filming material set in Fetch Wood, the generator which
powered the lighting equipment caught fire. Fortunately, a replacement
was obtained from London quickly enough to finish the required sequences
before dawn.

Ribbing was added to the Fendahleen costumes to avoid
giving the impression of a phallic appearance

Studio recording for Image Of The Fendahl then began with a
two-day session on August 20th and 21st, in BBC Television Centre Studio
6. These were devoted to episodes one and two, respectively, with only
part two's climactic confrontation between Thea and Max omitted. The
part three scene in the Priory kitchen was also taped on the 21st.
Meanwhile, the Fendahleen costumes were in preparation for the second
studio block. Concerns now arose that these were too phallic in
appearance, and so the ribbing effect was added to mute this
impression.

The rest of Image Of The Fendahl was recorded between September
4th and 6th, again in TC6. The 4th dealt with the conclusion of episode
two, as well as the majority of the third installment, leaving the
scenes in the large cellar for the next day. Also recorded on the 5th
was part four material which involved Wanda Ventham as Thea Ransome,
prior to her transformation. September 6th then saw the completion of
the final installment, encompassing the latter stages of the episode in
which Ventham played the Fendahl Core.

Image Of The Fendahl was Boucher's last Doctor Who serial.
Shortly afterward, he began discussions with Williams and Read about
an adventure set in a remote Earth outpost under attack. This was
quickly vetoed by BBC Head of Drama Ronnie Marsh, who wanted to keep the
writing staffs of Doctor Who and Blake's 7 separate. In
1985, Boucher made a further story suggestion to script editor Eric
Saward, but this was not taken up. After leaving Blake's 7,
Boucher continued writing and script editing, working on programmes such
as Juliet Bravo, Bergerac and The Bill. He also
created the science-fiction programme Star Cops. Boucher finally
returned to Doctor Who via BBC Books' line of novels, writing
four books between 1998 and 2005, starting with Last Man Running.
He was also involved with the Magic Bullet Productions audio series
Kaldor City, which combined elements from both The Robots Of Death and Blake's 7.

The transmission of Image Of The Fendahl part four marked the
last time that Robert Holmes was credited as Doctor Who's script
editor. (Although Anthony Read had also worked on the serial, he would
not receive his first on-screen acknowledgment until the next story in
production, Underworld.) Holmes would
maintain close ties with the programme, however, contributing two more
serials for Season Sixteen, and several further stories in the
mid-Eighties. Holmes remained a prolific writer for other programmes, as
well, including Blake's 7, The Nightmare Man, Juliet
Bravo and Bergerac, and served as script editor on
Armchair Thriller and Shoestring. Holmes also novelised
his script for The Two Doctors for Target
Books. He passed away on May 24th, 1986, after a brief illness, partway
through work on his final Doctor Who adventure, the conclusing
segment of The Trial Of A Time Lord.